COUNCILLORS were jeered and branded “hypocrites” after the decsion was made to close a failing primary school.

At a Greenwich Council meeting last night, cabinet members were met with cries of “shame” after they decided Charlotte Turner School, in Benbow Street, Deptford, should be closed in August.

Parents of pupils at the school have been campaigning against the proposals and several furious mums at the meeting screamed at the councillors, who were forced to halt the meeting and flee the council chamber.

The decision came after an Ofsted report last November found the school to be inadequate in every area.

Mum Angelina Leonida, of Besson Street, New Cross, called the councillors “a bunch of old hypocrites” when the decision was announced.

The 38-year-old said: “The councillors have failed our school and they have failed our children.

“They’re going to go home to their big rich houses and I have to go home and tell my child I’ve got no school to send her to next year.

“But the fight starts here and we’re not going to give up.”

There were 156 responses to a council questionnaire, with not one person in favour of the school’s closure.

Another 16 letters against the proposal were received from various organisations, including the National Union of Teachers, as well as responses from school pupils.

Leader of Greenwich Conservatives Councillor Spencer Drury says the decision to close the school is astonishing.

He said: “The whole consultation was a sham and the decision to close the school was a foregone conclusion.

“Not a single person thought it was a good idea for the school or the community.”

But at the meeting Councillor Jackie Smith said the decision to close a school does not come lightly.

She said: “The views of Ofsted and the amount of support the local authority is giving to the school, means it would not be sustainable in the long term to keep it open.

“I have the greatest sympathy with the parents but what we are doing is trying to make sure children in our community are getting the best possible opportunities.”